Read Online Longing for Home by Kathryn Springer - Free Book Online

boy ready, but I’ve been straightening that man’s tie for over forty years.”
    “I appreciate that. Cody looked a little nervous during the rehearsal.”
    Although that could have been Alex’s fault.
    Kate had seen his surprise when Abby introduced him to Cody Lang and Daniel Redstone the night before. Alex hadn’t said anything, but it was clear he hadn’t expected Quinn to choose the adolescent boy he mentored and a semi-retired carpenter as his groomsmen.
    Esther cleared her throat. “I can’t wait to see your dress, my dear. Faye said it’s lovely.”
    “Dress?” Kate blinked, feigning ignorance. “No one said anything about a dress.”
    But maybe that explained why Alex had been staring at her bare feet. Maybe he assumed she would show up at the wedding in cut-off shorts and a tank top.
    But Esther, who had known Kate since she was a baby, simply laughed as she bustled away. “I’ll see you at the ceremony.”
    The main lodge was bustling with activity when Kate made her way downstairs. Although the wedding wasn’t until three o’clock, some of the guests, like Esther, had arrived early to help with preparations.
    Through the glass doors leading to the deck, Kate spotted her two friends, Emma Sutton and Zoey Decker, sitting at a wicker table, putting together the bridal bouquet from the wildflowers she’d picked on her way to the inn that morning.
    As temperamental as northern Wisconsin weather could be—even in early August—it was a perfect day. Both the lake and the sky had dressed in blue for the occasion and sunlight beaded the water, matching Abby’s dress sparkle for sparkle.
    “How is Abby holding up?” Emma wrapped an ivory velvet ribbon around a sprig of pink heirloom rosebuds.
    “Great.” Kate picked up a daisy and rolled the stem between her fingers. “I left her with Alex a few minutes ago.”
    Emma’s smoke-blue eyes widened. “On purpose?”
    “He promised he wasn’t going to talk her out of getting married.”
    The doubtful look Emma and Zoey exchanged made Kate glad she hadn’t mentioned Alex’s teasing comment about the prenup.
    Because he had been teasing. Hadn’t he?
    “I heard that you and Alex are going to be running the inn while Abby and Quinn are on their honeymoon,” Emma ventured.
    “I’m only going to be here a few hours a day. Our paths shouldn’t cross that often. Alex will be working in the office. I’ll be in the kitchen—”
    “Like Cinderella,” Zoey interrupted with a grin.
    Kate made a face. Until Zoey had made Mirror Lake her permanent home recently, she’d played the lead in a modern version of the popular fairy tale at a dinner theatre in the Wisconsin Dells. Zoey might have found her “happily ever after” with Matthew Wilde, one of Kate’s close friends and the pastor of the church she attended; but there was no way she would let her friend cast her in that role.
    Especially with Alex Porter.
    Even if he looked spectacular in a tuxedo. And had a smile that appeared out of nowhere and streaked through her like summer lightning.
    Kate was still experiencing the aftershock of that smile.
    She hadn’t expected to discover a razor-sharp sense of humor lurking below his implacable surface.
    She hadn’t expected him to make her laugh. Or to laugh at himself.
    Two qualities Kate had always dreamed of in a man.
    She shoved the thought aside.
    Sense of humor or not, a man like Alex Porter didn’t belong in Mirror Lake.
    And he sure didn’t belong in her dreams.
    “So?” Abby took a slow spin in front of the full-length mirror and sent yards of ivory satin belling out from her trim waist. “What do you think?”
    Alex’s throat tightened. “I think that Mom and Dad would be very proud of you.”
    Abby’s smile faded. She launched herself into his arms and Alex rocked her back and forth, the same way he had the night they’d received the news about their parents.
    “I wish they were here,” she whispered against his shoulder.
    “So